Abstract
A total of 198 precipitation samples were collected at Nagqu on the central Tibetan Plateau in 2000. Based on the isotope data from individual samples, the local meteoric water line was established: δD = 7.7δ18O–4.6 (r 2 = 96, p < 0.0001). Stable isotope data from precipitation exhibit a seasonal variability in deuterium excess. The study indicated that the influence of moisture transport and recycling on seasonal variation of d-excess in precipitation events is potentially significant. During summer precipitation, the lower d-excess values are usually related to warm and humid Indian Ocean moisture transport. In spring and winter, due to the cold and dry westerly and northern moisture transport, d-excess values in precipitation are usually higher. The d-excess in summer precipitation is also influenced by the secondary evaporation between cloud base and ground during precipitation events, as well as the admixture of water vapor from evapotranspiration over the continent along the storm trajectories. The results also suggested that the d-excess values in precipitation at Nagqu displayed an obvious transition due to its location on the central Tibetan Plateau.
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Acknowledgments
This research is supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China (grant 40671043, 40771048 and 40571039), the National Basic Research Program of China (grant 2005CB422002), the Innovation Program of Chinese Academy of Sciences (KZCX3-SW-339). We give thanks to Nagqu meteorological station for collecting precipitation samples. We are grateful to Nagqu meteorological station and China Meteorological Administration for providing Meteorological data. We also thank engineer Sun Weizhen for helping in the measurement of δ 18O and Ecological Research Center of Kyoto University, Japan for helping in the measurement of δD.
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Liu, Z., Tian, L., Yao, T. et al. Seasonal deuterium excess in Nagqu precipitation: influence of moisture transport and recycling in the middle of Tibetan Plateau. Environ Geol 55, 1501–1506 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00254-007-1100-4
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00254-007-1100-4